1. Field of the Invention
Walking platform for extending the reach of drywall installers, plasters, painters, arborists, fruit pickers, shelf stockers, inventory counters, etc.
2. Description of Related Art
Walking stilts for elevating painters and drywall installers so they can reach the ceiling of a room have been around for some time.
The essential parts of a drywall installer's stilt are a means to attach the stilt to the user's boot, a ground engaging foot structure, and a means to hold the boot attachment and the ground engaging foot apart in a vertically oriented relationship.
Various designs of these essential elements are described in the literature, some are on the market and in use by the construction industry.
Almost all are some form of fixed or articulated connection between the human's boot and a ground engaging foot. U.S. Pat. No. 5,645,515 by William Armstrong is typical. Many other examples of similar structures are easy to find in the patent data base.
These buckled on stilts are well made of cast and machined metal parts and thus are very expensive. Several hundred dollars per pair.
The ground engaging foot is invariably no larger than the shoe on the human foot, and in some examples, it is narrower and/or shorter. Most have some articulation so that the ground foot operates with a “natural” longitudinal toe to heel flexibility. None were found with lateral flexibility which would permit the wearer to sense the ground foot stepping on a piece of construction junk so the ankle could respond to, or possess capability to absorb the unevenness of stepping on construction junk and small items such as nails and drywall screws. As a result, falling is common and the extra height makes falling all the more likely to result in injury.
The dangers encountered in use, the cost, and an inappropriately designed ground foot has discouraged using the available stilts in other applications where extending height and reach would be a valuable asset.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,593,373 by Russell Hale overcomes the cost problem by using recycled buckets as the elevating platform. A bucket does provide more area than the human foot, but the ground engaging area is shaped differently. Also a bucket has marginal strength at the rim, and the sides may buckle under load. Buckets simply were not designed to be walked upon in the manner Hale describes.
Currently, good, strong, metal buckets are becoming scarcer. Plastic buckets are rapidly replacing metal buckets for nearly every use. Plastic buckets will have wider variation in shape, cross section, and material strengths. Choosing one that is strong enough to be used safely may be beyond the ability of Mr. Hale's targeted user.
Another problem with Mr. Hale's bucket stand is that the ground engaging portion is circular. This separates the extended feet. Since the buckets are axially vertical, the ground separation is directly translated to the wearer's foot positions. The wearer will have to “duck walk”, which is less stable, especially when gazing upwards.
Mr. Hale's bucket may step over construction junk, placing the junk inside the bucket rim. The next step might drag the junk, which may be attached to something, or simply be heavy, and cause stumbling. If a workman steps the rim on a nail, drywall screw, or similar object, a spot of high stress occurs on the rim. This could induce the bucket wall to buckle, which would quickly propagate into a total failure of the supporting bucket.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,070,023 “Adjustable Stilt” by Denny Waxler teaches a stilt assembly utilizing a 3 piece structure. The upper piece is a foam block topped by a shoe attachment. The mid assembly is a plastic structure of various lengths, and the lower (stilt foot) assembly has a sole (14) or base plate adapted to provide traction (see Waxier col 2, lines 44+) and probably, though not specifically taught, wear resistance. Waxler's three pieces are attachable to each other by pairs of “puzzle registry” devices. The “puzzle registry” device pairs are shown as distinct elements separate from and attached to the foam block element. This suggests that they are constructed of more durable material than foam for strength and safety reasons. Foam is unlikely to have sufficient strength in the small sections illustrated to withstand the loads imposed by a walking man.
Waxler's boot strapping appears to be a pair of straps (FIG. 1), one of which surrounds the wearer's leg and the other surrounds the wearer's ankle. There is no toe strap illustrated or referred to within the text. Waxier does not have plastic foam as the ground engaging element, as does the present invention. Thus, he would not have the feature of resiliency to yield to and enclose small stepped upon objects.
Waxler's ground engaging foot is a simple rectangular surface that is the same size as the boot holding surface. He does not utilize outwardly extending pieces to improve stability against tipping to the outside. Waxler's FIG. 1 shows the stilt extending a considerable distance, at least a boot width toward the inside, that is toward the other stilt. This causes the wearers feet to be spread unnaturally far apart, resulting in a “duck walk” and increasing the propensity to buckle outwardly.
The present invention also has an oversize ground engaging area, but it is full contact, shaped, and positioned relative to the wearer's foot that the wearer walks naturally and the effects of stepping on junk is minimized, and in some cases transferred to the foot as a natural feel of an irregular walking surface, which is automatically compensated for by the user's sensing and proprioceptor nerves and muscle system.
The inside surfaces of the present invention are close to the wearer's boot instep, thus they do not collide or interfere with setting a natural stance for the walker.
3. Objects of the Invention
It is an object of the invention to provide a platform attachment to the foot of a workman so that he may walk around the worksite elevated 1 to 2 feet over the floor.
It is another object of the invention to provide a stable platform for standing upon that has a ground engaging foot having an area at least as large as the user's boot.
It is another object of the invention to provide safety features to avoid leg and ankle damage if the user should fall off the height extending invention.
It is another object of the invention to be stable enough that a workman can with reasonable safely walk around with his hands and gaze over his head, especially while holding a tool or load.
It is another object of the invention to provide shoe fastening that may be buckled and unbuckled with one hand and not having to be within the eyesight of the user.
It is another object of the invention that the cost be low.
It is another object of the invention to provide a natural gait for balance and stability. Feet not abnormally separated.
It is another object of the invention to provide a walking platform that is intuitive to put on and intuitive to use; no significant learning curve.
It is another object of the invention to provide a walking platform relatively insensitive to walking over junk on the floor.
It is another object of the invention that there be no moving parts other than in the shoe buckling system.